Posted on 06/05/2006 4:10:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A Pakistani man who was convicted in the 1980s of supplying Iran with weapons systems was sentenced Monday to more than 12 years in federal prison for coordinating the recent export of military aircraft components ultimately destined for Iran.
Authorities say Arif Ali Durrani coordinated the movement of fighter jet and helicopter parts in the 2004 and 2005 to Iran via Belgium, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates from his home in Rosarito Beach, Mexico.
Durrani was convicted in March on four counts of exporting engine parts and other components for the F-5 fighter jet and the Chinook helicopter. U.S. District Court Judge Larry A. Burns sentenced Durrani to a total of 10 years for his trafficking activities. He will serve an additional 30 months for an additional count of conspiracy to export parts.
Prosecutor William Cole said he expects Durrani to be deported after his prison term is completed.
Durrani's lawyer, Moe Nadim, said he had filed a notice of appeal shortly after the sentencing hearing.
"We are challenging everything," Nadim said in a telephone interview Monday. Nadim said Durrani became an American citizen in 1986.
Durrani served five years in prison after he was convicted in 1987 of selling guidance systems for Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. He said he acted as part of the Iran-Contra plot in which the United States exchanged arms to gain release of U.S. hostages held in Lebanon. Throughout the trial, Durrani maintained Oliver North, then a National Security Council aide, told him to make the shipments and not worry about an export license.
Last year, former Navy intelligence officer George Charles Budenz II pleaded guilty to illegally exporting military aircraft parts overseas.
In court, Budenz said he made the air freight shipments in December 2004 and January 2005 at the direction of Durrani.
At the time, prosecutors said Durrani was the mastermind of the exports while Budenz facilitated getting the products out of the United States.
A third man, Richard Tobey, pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to violate U.S. arms export control laws. Tobey said Durrani instructed him to send a T-38 cockpit canopy to the United Arab Emirates.
fyi - sentencing day for Durrani
BWAAHAHAHAHA, I wonder what his full first name is.
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